Hands across the water
It was a good gesture on the part of the Prime Minister to phone President elect Donald Trump and congratulate him over winning the presidential election. It would not do however to present common pleasantries as a breakthrough. Some of the views Trump expressed during the election campaign were by no means complimentary to Pakistan. The reference to Shakil Afridi had evoked a strong response from Pakistan’s Interior Minister.
Under the circumstance there is all the more need to try to mould Donald Trump’s opinions and one would appreciate Nawaz Sharif’s efforts in the direction. For this there is a need to take stock of the major differences between the two countries that have marred their relations in the recent past. Washington accuses Pakistan of failing to take action against the Haqqani network and Afghan Taliban some of whom supposedly still operating from Pakistan. It has called for action against JuD and JeM and demanded Shakil Afridi’s release. The US is apprehensive of some of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons falling into the hands of the extremists. Influential US lawmakers, both Republican and Democrat, have increasingly taken up the issues. In September some of the lawmakers belonging to the GOP which now dominates both the Senate and the House besides being in control of the White House, signed a petition calling on the administration to declare Pakistan a terrorist state
Pakistan is unhappy over the US forgetting the sacrifices in human and material terms the country made while fighting terrorism. It blames the US for denying the promised F-16s and of nearly choking off the funding needed to carry on the fight. Many in Pakistan consider the US a fair weather friend who turns its back after achieving its strategic aims, leaving Pakistan to cope with the negative repercussions on its own
These differences need to be resolved as both the US and Pakistan will need each other’s help. But these cannot be wished away through exchange of pleasantries between Nawaz Sharif and Trump or through family to family relations between the two leaders.
